The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, defended yesterday that, in order to defeat terrorism in the Sahel, it is necessary to create conditions for social and economic development in the region.
González Laya participated by videoconference in the second meeting of foreign affairs ministers of the Sahel Coalition, who adopted a Road Map that declares collective action in favour of stabilisation and development in the Sahel, on the basis of the Declaration reached at the N’Djamena Summit together with the G5 Sahel, on 16 February.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the minister, who chairs the Sahel Alliance, stressed in her speech: “We collectively place the emphasis on civil, political and development actions, because we will not defeat terrorism in the Sahel if we do not create conditions for social and economic development for all, and if we do not guarantee the presence of the state in the entire territory.
The Sahel Coalition was launched in January 2020 at the France-G5 Sahel Summit in Pau and endorsed at the EU-G5 Sahel meeting on 28 April 2020. It is a platform for concertation between the G5 countries and their main partners in the international community. The next Sahel Coalition Summit is expected to take place at the level of Heads of State or Government in the summer of 2021.
The Declaration reached in N’Djamena addresses the security, stabilisation and development challenges in the region, as well as the responses that the Sahel Coalition can provide in the four pillars of action envisaged: 1) combating terrorism; 2) strengthening the capacities of national armed forces and the G5 Sahel Joint Force; 3) promoting the deployment of state administration and basic services in a context of stabilisation; and finally, 4) led by the Sahel Alliance and the G5 Sahel, focusing on addressing the root causes of insecurity in the region.
The Roadmap is based on a common understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the Sahel and constitutes a declaration of intent and a framework for collective action for progress in the region.
